Beach
Big AVP happenings: 8-city league starts in 2024, plus new tour format
November 13, 2023
FIVB Cancun Hub 2: Just Ross-Klineman, Sponcil-Claes remain in medal contention
Beach
April 25, 2021
After a busy Saturday in the Mexican resort city of Cancun, just two USA women’s pairs remain in the second of three 4-star FIVB Cancun Hub pro beach volleyball tournaments.
April Ross and Alix Klineman and Sarah Sponcil and Kelly Claes are still in medal contention, while Kerri Walsh Jennings and Brooke Sweat, Tri Bourne and Trevor Crabb, and Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena were all ousted.
That sets up a quarterfinals Sunday that has Claes and Sponcil playing at 1 p.m. local time (U.S. Central) and Klineman and Ross playing at 3:
Women
Sanne Keizer/Madelein Meppelink Netherlands (21) vs. Kelly Claes/Sarah Sponcil USA (19, Q2)
Agatha Bednarczuk/Eduarda “Duda” Lisboa Brazil (1) vs. Lena Plesiutschnig/Katharina Schutzenhofer Austria (25)
Alix Klineman/April Ross USA (4) vs. Fan Wang/Xinyi Xia China (9)
Svetlana Kholomina/Nadezda Makroguzova Russia (6) vs. Karla Borger/Julia Sude Germany (17)
Men
Anders Mol/Christian Sorum Norway (1) vs. Piotr Kantor/Bartosz Losiak Poland (25, Q6)
Steven van de Velde/Christiaan Varenhorst Netherlands (16) vs. Alison Cerutti/Alvaro Filho Brazil (4)
Stefan Boermans/Yorick de Groot Netherlands (31, Q30) vs. Adrian Carambula/Enrico Rossi Italy (7)
Cherif Samba/Ahmed Tijan Qatar (10) vs. Daniele Lupo/Paolo Nicolai Italy (14)
Ross and Klineman began with a straight-set win over Germany’s Chantal Laboureur and Cinja Tillmann (21-15, 21-13) to earn a first-round bye. They kept it going with a three-set win over Australians Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho (19-21, 21-11, 15-11).
The Americans gained an early advantage in the third with a three-point run. Klineman roofed Artacho for 7-4, Ross dug Clancy’s spike on two, then tooled her block for 8-4, and Klineman sealed Clancy’s crosscourt angle for a 9-4 block. The lead would hold for a 15-11 decision.
Sponcil and Claes continue to make the most of their opportunity after failing to qualify in the first Hub event. Saturday, they failed to win their pool after a three-set loss to the Netherlands’ Raisa Schoon and Katja Stam (22-20, 16-20, 15-10). Team Slaes turned it around, defeating both Cuba’s Lidiannis Echeverria and Yanisleidis Sanchez (21-14. 21-16) and Switzerland’s Nina Betschart and Tanja Huberli (21-16, 21-13).
Tough serving, Claes’ blocking, and Sponcil’s defense kept the Swiss frustrated. The USA jumped out with sizeable leads, 9-4 in the first and 15-6 in the second. Claes and Sponcil were guaranteed a fifth-place finish when Huberli and Betschart alternated hitting errors to close out the match.
Walsh Jennings and Sweat finished tied for ninth. They broke out of pool with a 21-16, 21-18 win over the Netherlands’ Emi and Maxime van Driel. In bracket play, they upset Brazil’s Rebecca Cavalcanti and Ana Patricia Silva (18-21, 21-14, 22-20) before falling short against China’s Fan Wang and Xinyi Xia (21-18, 21-18).
The match against China was close throughout the early part of the set, but the Americans had difficulty siding out at the end, giving up three-point runs late in each set. The 400 Olympic qualifying points they earned are not enough to drop another result, with their lowest finish currently at 480.
Kelley Kolinske and Emily Stockman were eliminated in their pool by the Australia’s Clancy and Artacho (21-16, 21-13). Clancy’s serving and blocking opened up several runs that the Americans couldn’t match. The loss puts them out in 17th place, worth 320 Olympic qualifying points. Their Qinzhou 360-point finish is their lowest.
Both USA men’s teams also tied for ninth.
Bourne and Trevor Crabb fell to top-seeded Norwegians Anders Mol and Christian Sorum (21-19, 21-19). At the same time, Dalhausser and Lucena were defeated by the Netherlands’ Steven van de Velde and Christiaan Varenhorst (21-13, 26-24).
Bourne and Trevor Crabb had a day of deuce sets. Their playoffs began with a 21-19, 21-19 upset of the reigning world champions and second-seeded Viacheslav Krasilnikov and Oleg Stoyanovskiy of Russia.
If playing the No. 2 seeds in the first round wasn’t enough, their second-round opponents were top-seeded Norwegians Mol and Sorum. This time the deuce sets went the other way, with the Americans ending up in ninth place after a 21-19, 21-19 loss.
And if you think that having to play the two top tournament seeds in the first rounds of playoffs is unfair, talk to the FIVB, whose policy is to seed playoffs randomly, ignoring all previous competitive seeding data.
Bourne and Crabb finished ninth, good for 400 points in the Olympic qualification race. They will replace their Warsaw 360-point finish, adding 40 points to their totals.
Dalhausser and Lucena had an easier road Saturday, beginning with the coveted first-round bye. Their second-round opponent was van de Velde and Varenhorst of the Netherlands. The 6-foot-11 Varenhorst and van de Velde, a 6-6 defender with a whip of a swing, played well beyond their No. 16 seed.
The first set was all Netherlands, with van de Velde pounding high-velocity topspin serves to a 21-13 score.
The second set began much the same way, with van de Velde forcing the issue at the service line to create a 7-2 advantage. The Americans slowly crept back, tying the score at 11-all. The Dutch would score first, going up 19-18 on a van de Velde dig and spike.
Fittingly, the Dutch would finally close the match out on the seventh matchpoint on a big middle-to-middle van de Velde jump serve from the good side.
Dalhausser and Lucena’s finish is good for 400 Olympic qualifying points, adding 160 points by replacing their 240-point Xiamen result, which extends their lead over Bourne and Trevor Crabb by 120 points.
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